- Safiu Kehinde
The Lagos State Government has given marching orders for immediate dislodgement of all squatters under the Opebi – Mende bridge.
Tokunbo Wahab, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, made this known in a statement issued on Thursday.
Wahab decried the squatters’ conversion of the yet to be inaugurated Opebi – Mende bridge to homes and stores.
The Commissioner directed security agencies to immediately move in and dislodge all the squatters and their shanties.
According to Wahab, the primary responsibility of every government is the preservation of life and property, and the present administration would not shirk its responsibility in that regard.
He said it is disheartening that an iconic project that was almost ready for inauguration had suddenly been taken over by different shades of miscreants and squatters.
Wahab added that even some people from the Cane Village had come to the underbelly of the bridge to create an illegal settlement.
He vowed that the state government would not only dislodge the squatters but would permanently monitor the locations, so that they would not return.
He warned all the automobile mechanic who had converted the open space adjacent to the bridge to their workshop to immediately relocate to avoid impounding the vehicles.